Sixers reportedly sign Nick Young to one-year contract and are going to amnesty Elton Brand.
It appears the days of Lou Williams and Elton Brand wearing Sixers uniforms are done. And Nick Young is apparently on his way.
Sixers reportedly sign Nick Young to one-year contract and are going to amnesty Elton Brand.
Bob Cooney
The 76ers have reportedly signed shooting guard Nick Young to a one-year contract for close to $6 million and are ready to use their amnesty clause on Elton Brand, reports say.
The signing of Young, a 6-6 shooting guard, certainly seems to indicate that Lou Williams will not be back with the team. Williams opted out of the last year of his contract with the team, worth about the same amount of Young's reported contract.
Williams seems to have confirmed that idea today when he tweeted the following:
Philly, I appreciate you all. Unfortunately I will not be coming back, as an organization they decided to move in a different direction.
— Lou Williams (@TeamLou23) July 6, 2012
The 27 year-old young was a first round draft pick (16th overall) of the Washington Wizards in 2007. In 62 games last season, 40 with the Wizards and 22 with the Clippers, Young shot 40.3 percent from the floor, including 103-for-282 (36.5 percent) from three-point range. He averaged 14.2 points, slightly over his career average of 11.4 points. He is a very good free throw shooter at 83 percent for his career, but his main attribute is his outside shooting.
By using the amnesty clause on Brand, the Sixers will probably use that money ($18.2 million) on finding a veteran big man who may be able to start at the power forward position and a backup point guard. Right now Jrue Holiday is the only real point guard on the roster, though Evan Turner and Andre Iguodala could handle the ball when necessary. A true backup point guard would allow the team to not only use him when Holiday is out of the game, but move Holiday off the ball at times also.
Williams, 25, spent all of his 7 NBA seasons with the Sixers after being taken with the 45th overall pick in 2005 out of South Gwinnett High School. He led the team in scoring this past season with 14.9 points a game despite not starting a single game. For his career he has averaged 11.3 points and 3 assists.
Brand, the top overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in 1999, will turn 34 this upcoming season. He averaged a career-low 11 points this past season but was able to grab 7.2 rebounds and block 1.6 shots in 29 minutes of play.
Today's reported moves appear to be the beginning of more. Coach Doug Collins and his assistants are down in Orlando preparing for next week's summer league. President Rod Thorn is still in Philadelphia, though he will join Collins and company in Orlando on Monday.
More to come.
zeros for zeros... the 76er way!— main liner- Now trade Iggy and the kitchen sink for Dwight Howard. Remember the city of Philadelphia when Iverson led the Sixers to the NBA finals? It was amazing. Let's get back to that status.— bdd5014
- Dwight Howard is overrated. Dude has no O game whatsoever besides tip ins and lob pass dunks. And this year he quit on his team before his back "gave out". Additionally he has one year left on his contract and has made it ABUDANTLY clear to anyone that can read that he desires only to play for Brooklyn. Why would trade for a one year rental with all of his baggage?— F. Harry Stowe
- Interesting move with Young; who will be the new big man ? johnnyu— john ullman
This team has no leadership at all. You bring in the exact same guy as Lou Will (just taller), why not get a different type of player. Then in order to fit him into the salary you amnesty Brand, come on. Had they brought in another big to help with protecting the rim or a shooter (that actually has a conscious unlike N. Young) then I understand the amnesty but not for Young and Hawes. If they get Ilyasova I will alter my opinion but short of that this off season has been awful.- Different player, as he's a "catch and shoot guy"...Fab FT shooter, who like Lou, can get streaky and hot...This signing was a response by the Sixers as negotiatipons with Lou broke off...No invite to Young, no "wine and dine"..phone call,one year,safe..Needing the money to get Young,thus initiating the tagging of EB, it's evident the Sixers will be involved with either Ilyasova or Ryan Anderson...Note that EB's tagging came just ONE DAY AFTER ilyasova's very beatable offer came from Milwaukee. — bearsfriend
- Didn't say they were identical and I agree different method of scoring but the comparison was that they were streaky shooters who shoot poorly from the floor and don't play defense. You know that I hope you are right on Ilyasova.
- Nick Young is another no defense, stand-around-b@tching-about-no-foul-call while the other team fast breaks the other way five on four. Maybe the Sixers are going for a high lottery pick next year? If so maybe this isn't a totally bad move, because N Young is not a winner. — LenapeDude12
- Who would you have rather they brought in? Who's available for that kind of money on a 1 year deal? Just because the Sixers want a player does not mean there is a mutual interest. I like the signing. The Sixers have a guy that can flat out light it up at a fairly low-risk for one year in Young. They also re-signed Spencer at a fairly decent amount for just 2 years, which means he's an expiring contract at the end of this coming season. Gone are the days of the bad contracts of Billy King.
Do you want to overpay for Illyasova? He's not even an everyday starter. He's come off the bench more than he's started for the Milwaukee Bucks for God's sake. I'd much rather have Al Jefferson than a cat that hasn't even been able to establish himself as a starter on a bad team.— TheVoice - It's about time! I like the Nick Young pickup. Now, the Sixers need to trade Iguodala for a big, preferably Gasol or Al Jefferson. And, with the money freed up by amnestying Brand, the Sixers should sign sf/pf-Ersan Ilyasova and pg-Aaron Brooks. Projected lineup: Holiday/Brooks, Turner/N.Young, T.Young/Harkless, Ilyasova/Allen/Moultrie, and Gasol/Hawes/Vucevic. Good luck DC/Thorn!— uscwee
- With this move...I can see them trading for Paul Millsap who is a great PF on the last year of his deal in Utah!— khouse
- Lou Williams opted out of his contract and then tweets that the "organization decided to move in another direction" lol— kort99
- If the Sixers get Nick Young, Ersan Ilyasova, and a backup point with Brand's $18M in cap room, it's a huge upgrade. Young's a capable replacement for Williams on a reasonable one-year deal. Ilyasova would give them a young 4 who can score and stretch the floor, creating space for Iggy, ET, and Jrue. Add a capable backup point so that an injury to Holiday doesn't cripple the team, and that's a significantly better team - particularly looking at the long-term picture - than last year's model.— ColonelTom
- As much as I liked Lou, I think this is a good move. Lou needed to dominate the ball to be effective and the roster had too many of those kinds of players. Young is more a prototypical guard/wing who can play more off the ball than Lou could. So he should fit better in the backcourt with guys like Holiday and Turner. Most importantly, it's a 1 year deal and not a 4-5 year commitment like Lou wanted. There will be a big crop of talent on the free-agent market next year and the Sixers are setting themselves up to have significant money available to make a run at someone next off-season.— JimG
- Sounds like Lou's agent overplayed his hand. Opting out was fine. Asking for too much was not. Now he has no job. But, someone will pay him. But, probably not much more had he not opted out. Thanks for the excitement that you,Louuuuuuuuuu brought.— philsix6
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
